We Can Do Hard Things

Brilliant actor, director, and Schitt’s Creek co-creator, Dan Levy, is here diving into the heart and complexity of friendship, grief, creativity, and the power of curiosity. 

Discover: 

• Abby’s recent grief and how Dan’s new movie, Good Grief, impacted her;
• Glennon, Abby, Amanda and Dan attempt to answer, “Where did they go?;”
• The one simple question that started the Schitt’s Creek revolution; and
• How to start investing in the friendships that will sustain us.  

About Dan: 

Daniel Levy is an Emmy-award winning creator and actor who has built his career telling vibrant and comedic stories. Levy's directorial debut Good Grief, an original film that he wrote, produced, and stars in, is available now for streaming on Netflix.  

He is best known for his work on one of the most beloved shows on television, Schitt’s Creek, which he co-created with his father Eugene Levy, and which garnered countless awards, including nine Emmy® wins for its sixth and final season. Levy is also the founder of DL Eyewear, a gender-fluid eyewear brand that gives back through its support of small businesses and entrepreneurs located in historically disadvantaged communities.

Watch Good Grief: https://www.netflix.com/title/81462549

IG: @instadanjlevy

Today, we’re attempting to solve birthdays. For most of us, it’s a complicated day full of mixed emotions, expectations, and comparisons.

• Why birthdays have become a set up for disappointment;
• Glennon, Abby, and Amanda share their best and worst birthday stories; and
• Strategies for making birthdays better and celebrating each other outside of that one day.

Dr. Becky Kennedy is back to discuss something rarely talked about: “mom rage” – and the crucial connection between anger and our unmet needs. 

• What leads to these explosive moments – and why it's more common than we might think; 

• How understanding the story behind the rage moment can help us figure out what led to it and what we need. 

• The impact of society's shaming of anger in women; and

• Tips for managing our anger, recognizing our needs, and taking care of ourselves.

About Dr. Becky: 

Dr. Becky Kennedy is a clinical psychologist, bestselling author, and mom of three – who’s rethinking the way we raise our children – and named “The Millennial Parenting Whisperer” by TIME Magazine. Dr. Becky is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be and founder of the Good Inside Membership platform, a hub with Dr. Becky’s complete parenting content collection all in one place. Dr. Becky hosts Good Inside with Dr Becky, a chart-topping podcast with over 20M downloads. In 2023, Dr. Becky delivered a TED Talk in which she shares “the single most important parenting strategy”.

TW: @goodinside

IG: @drbeckyatgoodinside

Author Laura McKowen is back to share the nine essential lessons she learned in recovery, from accepting that it's not your fault to the importance of seeking community and reaching out for help.

• What it means to take responsibility and why accountability leads to freedom;

• How we’re all capable of everything – and how to get unstuck when you’re feeling bad about yourself; and 

• The importance of being seen in your pain – and the transformative potential of helping others do the same.

About Laura: 

Laura is the author of the bestselling memoir, We Are The Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life and Push Off From Here: Nine Essential Truths to Get You Through Life (and Everything Else).

She has written for The New York Times and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Atlantic, the TODAY show, and more. In 2020, she founded The Luckiest Club, a global sobriety support community.

Laura lives with her daughter and partner on the North Shore of Boston.

IG: @laura_mckowen

Author Laura McKowen shares her incredible hard-earned wisdom about how to get sober and how to live with dignity, power, and peace. 

Laura shares:

• Her gut-wrenching rock bottom moment that eventually led her to sobriety. 

• How healing often begins when we are forced to confront our deepest traumas. 

• The "Bigger Yes" – and why it's not about achieving grand aspirations, but discovering the beauty in simply being who you are. 

• Simple acts of self-care and the importance of stillness for self-discovery. 

• The two fundamental questions everyone needs to ask themselves: "How do I feel?" and "What do I want?"

• The special vitriol for mothers who struggle with addiction in a culture that tells mothers to drink in countless ways.

About Laura: 

Laura is the author of the bestselling memoir, We Are The Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life and Push Off From Here: Nine Essential Truths to Get You Through Life (and Everything Else).

She has written for The New York Times and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Atlantic, the TODAY show, and more. In 2020, she founded The Luckiest Club, a global sobriety support community.

Laura lives with her daughter and partner on the North Shore of Boston.

IG: @laura_mckowen

Three soccer legends and Glennon go on an epic double date! Our beloved Pod Squader, Christen Press, is back with Tobin Heath to share their revolutionary reimagining of what life and love look like when you protect the sacred – and the resistance in doing things quietly and privately, especially within the queer community.

• How to be free and independent inside a relationship – and Tobin’s seven-year contract idea; 

• Christen and Tobin describe each other as soccer players and as people outside of sport – and how they handle conflict; and

• Why they say, “Don’t look at us, look at our work” – and their current mission to build a sports media house for women. 

For our episode with Christen, check out 132. Christen Press: How to Get Your Bliss Back

About Christen: 

Christen Press is a two-time World Cup Champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and an equal pay pioneer. She is one of the all-time top 10 goalscorers on the U.S. Women’s National Team and currently plays for Angel City FC. Christen led the USWNT's historic achievement of Equal Pay and served as the leader of the USWNT Players Association for 2 years. Christen is Co-Founder and Co-CEO of RE—INC, a values-led brand that exists to reimagine the way women are seen and experienced in sports. She sits on the Board of Grassroots Soccer, a non-profit organization that uses the power of soccer to provide mentors, information, and health services to at-risk youth in Africa.

TW: @ChristenPress

IG: @christenpress

About Tobin: 

Tobin Heath is a two-time World Cup Champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, known as one of the most skillful and entertaining players in the game. Throughout her club career, Heath has played for PSG, the Portland Thorns, Manchester United, and Arsenal. Tobin has taken her vision, leadership, and creativity off the pitch and into her roles as Co-Founder and Co-CEO of RE—INC, and host of the critically-acclaimed show: The RE—CAP Show World Cup Edition.

TW: @TobinHeath

IG: @tobinheath

Amanda shares the profound impact that being open to giving and receiving help has had recently in her life. Glennon discusses why parenting teenagers can be isolating. 

• How the act of asking for help goes beyond vulnerability—it's a gateway to deeper connection with others. 
• Why our worthiness isn't tied to independence—but rather to our ability to build a web of support; and 
• The beauty that comes when we celebrate and acknowledge the interconnected world around us.

Glennon FINALLY UNDERSTANDS FORGIVENESS! She reads a gorgeous letter about her newfound, hard-earned understanding of forgiveness and it helps us all breathe deeper.

What happened when Glennon finally surrendered to the “Letters From Love” experiment.

• The dance of forgetting and remembering – a cycle that holds the essence of what's worth living for;

• How to overcome fear and blocks that get in the way of creative expression; and

• Liz challenges Amanda to try doing something without being attached to the outcome.

About Elizabeth: 

Elizabeth Gilbert is author of the international bestseller, EAT PRAY LOVE, which has been translated into over thirty languages, and sold over 12 million copies worldwide. The book became so popular that Time Magazine named Elizabeth as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2010, Elizabeth published a follow-up to EAT PRAY LOVE called COMMITTED—an instant a #1 New York Times Bestseller, as well as BIG MAGIC: CREATIVE LIVING BEYOND FEAR. She is author of two novels: THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS, and CITY OF GIRLS. And she is the creator of the Onward Book Club, which takes place on her Instagram via a live chat, as a way of spotlighting, studying, and celebrating the work of Black women authors. 

You can also find her on Substack and subscribe to her newsletter: “Letters From Love with Elizabeth Gilbert”.

TW: @GilbertLiz

IG: @elizabeth_gilbert_writer

Liz Gilbert returns to share with us her transformative practice of planning her days and her life by writing two-way letters to love every morning.

•  Why Liz shaved her head!

• The unwavering presence that’s accompanied Liz her whole life;

• The concept of "two-way prayer" – and how it can help us find the kindest, wisest version of ourselves.

• How to find solace and guidance in creating a higher power of your own understanding; and 

• Abby shares her own letter on self-love and acceptance, a declaration that she will not abandon herself.

About Elizabeth: 

Elizabeth Gilbert is author of the international bestseller, EAT PRAY LOVE, which has been translated into over thirty languages, and sold over 12 million copies worldwide. The book became so popular that Time Magazine named Elizabeth as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2010, Elizabeth published a follow-up to EAT PRAY LOVE called COMMITTED—an instant a #1 New York Times Bestseller, as well as BIG MAGIC: CREATIVE LIVING BEYOND FEAR. She is author of two novels: THE SIGNATURE OF ALL THINGS, and CITY OF GIRLS. And she is the creator of the Onward Book Club, which takes place on her Instagram via a live chat, as a way of spotlighting, studying, and celebrating the work of Black women authors. 

You can also find her on Substack and subscribe to her newsletter: “Letters From Love with Elizabeth Gilbert”.

TW: @GilbertLiz

IG: @elizabeth_gilbert_writer

Holiday Expectations are the joy robbers. Here’s how to leave room for yourself, and be sturdy this holiday season (and always).

1. How in our preparation for making things perfect, we leave no room for the peace and joy that is actually in front of us.

2. The opposite revolutions that Glennon and Amanda are having right now – and why they’re at the core the same.

3. The final frontier: How to be who we are wherever we are – and let our people be who they are wherever we are, too.

4. What it felt like for Glennon, Abby, and Amanda to watch Tish’s first live performance on stage.

Dr. Becky Kennedy returns to walk us through the #1 strategy for all relationships: REPAIR. She teaches us how to repair by revisiting hard moments to infuse them with love, connection, and new perspectives – and what happens when we don’t repair (it’s not good). Dr. Becky highlights how lack of repair can traumatize us by leaving us alone to make meaning of disconnection. 

Plus, we deep dive into the difference between repair and apology, and why it can be so hard to apologize (particularly for Abby to the kids and for Glennon to Abby).

About Dr. Becky: 

Dr. Becky Kennedy is a clinical psychologist, bestselling author, and mom of three – who’s rethinking the way we raise our children – and named “The Millennial Parenting Whisperer” by TIME Magazine. Dr. Becky is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be and founder of the Good Inside Membership platform, a hub with Dr. Becky’s complete parenting content collection all in one place. Dr. Becky hosts Good Inside with Dr Becky, a chart-topping podcast with over 20M downloads. In 2023, Dr. Becky delivered a TED Talk in which she shares “the single most important parenting strategy”.

TW: @goodinside

IG: @drbeckyatgoodinside

Just in time for the holidays: adrienne maree brown and Autumn Brown join us for a heart-opening, mind-bending conversation about sisterhood, justice, family, and how to love ourselves and people with different values simultaneously. 

• Why their family holidays used to end in explosions – and the strategy they used to transform family time into peaceful respites.

• Their intentional practice for creating a more beautiful way of spending time together - including their weekly “Sister Check-ins.” 

• What their mother did as children to protect their dignity, and what they are doing now to protect hers.

• Their beautiful vision for the future – and invitation to all of us to go with them. 

For our conversation with adrienne, check out 239. Why Are We Never Satisfied? With adrienne maree brown. 

About adrienne: 

adrienne maree brown grows healing ideas in public through writing, music, and podcasts. adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Transformative Justice as ideas, frameworks, networks and practices for transformation. adrienne’s work is informed by 25 years of social and environmental justice facilitation primarily supporting Black liberation. adrienne is the author/editor of Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds; Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good; Grievers; and Maroons.adrienne lives in Durham, NC.

TW: @adriennemaree

IG:@adriennemareebrown

About Autumn: 

Autumn Brown is a mother, organizer, theologian, artist, and facilitator. The youngest child of an interracial marriage, rooted in the complex lineages of counter-culturalism and the military industrial complex, Autumn is a queer, mixed-race Black woman who identifies closely with her African and European lineages, and a gifted facilitator who grounds her work in healing from the trauma of oppression. 

Autumn is a facilitator with the Anti-Oppression Resource & Training Alliance (AORTA), a worker-owned cooperative devoted to strengthening movements for social justice and a solidarity economy through political education, training, and planning. Prior to joining AORTA, Autumn served as the Executive Director of RECLAIM!, a non-profit that works to increase access to mental health support so that queer and trans youth may reclaim their lives from oppression in all its forms.

Autumn co-hosts the podcast "How to Survive the End of the World" with her sister, adrienne maree brown. She lives in Minneapolis with her three brilliant children.

IG:@autumnmeghanbrown

When was the first time you were made aware of your body or made to feel ashamed of your body? As promised, poet and author, Megan Falley, returns and blows Glennon’s mind with her explorations into the complexities of body, gender, and love. 

Megan reflects on her earliest memories of body shame and the lessons she learned about love from her family (and how she’s able to hold both the good and the bad at once). Megan shares about her summers at “fat camp,” her decision to leave an abusive relationship, and finding love with poet Andrea Gibson that redefined for her what it means to truly love and be loved. At the end, she tells a story that Glennon decides is the best description she’s heard of what forgiveness might actually be. 

For our Andrea Gibson and double date episodes, check out: 

Ep 245 An Unforgettable Double Date with Andrea Gibson & Megan Falley

Ep 215 The Bravest Conversation We’ve Had: Andrea Gibson

About Megan: 

Megan Falley is a nationally-ranked slam poet and the author of three full-length collections of poetry – most recently her book “Drive Here and Devastate Me”. Since transitioning to writing prose, excerpts from her memoir-in-progress have won several first- and second-place national prizes. She runs an online writing workshop called “Poems That Don’t Suck” which has been heralded as “a degree’s worth of education in 5 short weeks.”

TW: @megan_falley

IG: @meganfalley

Author and clinical psychologist, Lindsay C. Gibson, is back to share practical steps to disentangle ourselves from emotionally immature people (EIPs), emphasizing the importance of repetition, persistence, and consistency in communication as well as boundary setting.

Lindsay addresses questions about being in relationship with EIPs including: 

• Are people raised by EIPs prone to entering relationships with similar dynamics?

• What happens when we try to have conversations or engage in conflict with EIPs?

• How do we ACTUALLY HEAL as adult children of EIPs and maintain healthy detachment?

For Part 1 of our conversation, check out: 263. Healing from Emotionally Immature Parents with Lindsay C. Gibson.

Lindsay C. Gibson’s books can be found here:  http://www.lindsaygibsonpsyd.com/books.html

About Lindsay:

Lindsay C. Gibson is an author and clinical psychologist, and practicing psychotherapist for over thirty years. She has written several books, including Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents and Disentangling from Emotionally Immature People. Dr. Gibson specializes in therapy and coaching with adults to attain new levels of personal growth and confidence in dealing with emotionally immature people. 

Website: http://www.lindsaygibsonpsyd.com/

Author and clinical psychologist, Lindsay C. Gibson, helps us identify the characteristics of emotionally immature people (EIPs) like ego-centrism, lack of empathy, and fear of emotional intimacy.

Lindsay shares the effects of being raised by emotionally immature parents, mapping out two routes children often take – becoming internalizers or externalizers – and how that plays out in adult relationships and professional lives. 

Emphasizing the importance of self-compassion, Lindsay explains how often the most important step toward healing is identifying the EIPs in our lives. 

Lindsay C. Gibson’s books can be found here:  http://www.lindsaygibsonpsyd.com/books.html

About Lindsay:

Lindsay C. Gibson is an author and clinical psychologist, and practicing psychotherapist for over thirty years. She has written several books, including Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents and Disentangling from Emotionally Immature People. Dr. Gibson specializes in therapy and coaching with adults to attain new levels of personal growth and confidence in dealing with emotionally immature people. 

Website: http://www.lindsaygibsonpsyd.com/

Aubrey Gordon – activist, author, and teacher – talks to us about anti-fat bias and the way it manifests in employment disparities, our healthcare system, our dinner table conversations, and our parenting. She teaches us about “concern trolling” and other ways anti-fatness hides inside of our “do-gooding.” Sharing her personal experiences, Aubrey illuminates the subtle and not-so-subtle ways that our culture perpetuates anti-fatness – and examines the roots of thinness as a system of supremacy. She points us toward a world where we are all safer and freer. 

Plus, a heart-piercing voicemail from a concerned Pod Squader about their 11-year-old daughter's body image struggles.

For more information on why BMI is horseshit, check out Ep 10 OUR BODIES: Why are we at war with them and can we ever make peace?

About Aubrey:

Aubrey Gordon is an author, columnist, and cohost of the Maintenance Phase podcast. She is the author of the New York Times and Indie bestseller “You Just Need to Lose Weight” and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, and What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Vox, SELF, Health, Glamour and more. Aubrey is also the subject of the new documentary film YOUR FAT FRIEND, which explores her journey from anonymous blogger to bestselling author and activist.

TW: @yrfatfriend

IG: @yrfatfriend

Author and artist, Jenny Odell, discusses how to break from the attention economy long enough to feel fully alive in a culture obsessed with productivity. She shares stories of her encounters with nature, how to be creative instead of productive, how to be less useful in order to survive, and the real reason for art and rest. This is a deep dive about how to stay human in a world that wants us to become machines.

About Jenny: 

Jenny Odell is a multidisciplinary artist and the New York Times bestselling author of How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy and Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock. Her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Sierra magazine, and other publications. She lives in Oakland, California.

TW: @the_jennitaur

IG: @jennitaur

Glennon, Abby, Amanda and the Pod Squad share their most brutiful and hilarious holiday stories.

Author and cultural observer, Roxane Gay, examines the landscape of the internet and our relationship with it. We discuss the line between constructive criticism and online toxicity; how to decide when to speak up and when to stay quiet; and how to stay human and allow redemption in an online world that demands perfection.

Plus, a breakdown of our shared unguilty pleasure: Naked Attraction.

About Roxane: 

Roxane Gay is the author of several books, including Ayiti, An Untamed State, New York Times bestsellers Bad Feminist and Hunger; and the national bestseller Difficult Women.

Her writing appears in Best American Mystery Stories, Best American Short Stories, Best Sex Writing, A Public Space, McSweeney’s, Tin House, Oxford American, American Short Fiction, Virginia Quarterly Review, and many others. She is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. 

She also has a newsletter, “The Audacity” – and once had a podcast, The Roxane Gay Agenda.

Her latest book, Opinions, is available now.

TW: @rgay

IG: @roxanegay74

How do we bring our full selves into our relationships without fear of rejection? 

Today, Abby shares more about what’s been happening in her life since she’s stopped “bright siding” including powerful truth-telling she’s unleashed in business and her family of origin.

Glennon shares how Abby embracing her full emotions has led to deeper intimacy and connection, and a feeling of “un-loneliness” in their partnership – the opposite of what Abby feared might happen. 

Plus, we discuss how toxic positivity and polarized dynamics in relationships can lead to emotional disconnection and loneliness. 

For the first part of our conversation, check out 258. Abby Asks, “Why Can’t I Love Myself?”

Abby opens up about starting therapy and the work she’s been doing to unearth and express uncomfortable emotions like anger and sadness. She shares her long-held fear that if she feels and expresses her full self, people will leave her.

In a profound moment, Abby shares a deep longing to truly love herself. She explains that this love has been clouded by messages she’s received since childhood which have led to difficulty trusting others, equating anger with not being okay, and a feeling like something is “wrong” with her. 

For the episode Abby mentions with Suzanne Stabile, check out Fix Your Most Important Relationships with the Enneagram: Suzanne Stabile

Where does all our suffering come from and how can we free ourselves?

Pastor, author, and speaker, Nadia Bolz-Weber, discusses how she finally became healed and whole enough to choose romantic love from freedom instead of desperation. With her characteristic raw honesty, Nadia shares that the secret to her healing has been “honestly, a lot of pain.”

Plus, Nadia leads Abby to a heartbreaking, cathartic moment of clarity – and shares a blessing that she wrote for Abby and all queer people.

About Nadia:

Nadia Bolz-Weber is an ordained Lutheran Pastor; founder of House for All Sinners & Saints in Denver; host of The Confessional podcast; and author of three NYT bestselling memoirs: Pastrix, Accidental Saints, and SHAMELESS. Nadia writes and speaks about personal failings, recovery, grace, faith, and really whatever the hell else she wants to.

She always sits in the corner with the other weirdos, and she can be found a couple days a week inside the Denver women’s prison where she is a volunteer chaplain.

https://thecorners.substack.com/

IG: @sarcasticlutheran

Priya Parker is here to discuss what Glennon called “the most important thing in the world” – connection – and how to make our time with other people have more of it. She teaches us: 

• How – whether it’s a wedding or a retirement party – you can create new gathering rituals that forge truer, deeper relationships;

• Why the outcome of every gathering is decided before anyone steps in the room; and 

• Why so many of us hate parties – and what to do about it. 

For the The Art of Gathering online course giveaway go to priyaparker.com/hardthings

About Priya:

Priya Parker is a conflict facilitator, strategic advisor, international speaker, and acclaimed author of The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters and host of the podcast TOGETHER APART. She is the creator and host of The Art of Gathering digital course, about how to make meaning with and for our people. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband and two children.

TW: @priyaparker

IG: @priyaparker

Glennon tells three stories that reveal how recovery from anorexia has changed who she is and how she experiences the world.

Together in G’s home, recording for the first time, Abby and Amanda respond with their reflections and the impacts that G’s recovery work has had on the entire family.

In this special episode, Glennon, Abby, and Amanda sit down with icon Dolly Parton for a heartfelt conversation about how to start something new at 77, how she mothers the world, and how she broke her own heart when Elvis asked to record her hit song. 

Plus, the advice Dolly would give to Glennon and Abby’s daughter, Tish, as she enters the music business. 

About Dolly: 

Dolly Parton is the most honored and revered female country singer-songwriter of all time and was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Achieving 27 RIAA-certified gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards, she has had 26 songs reach #1 on the Billboard country charts, a record for a female artist. Parton became the first country artist honored as Grammy MusiCares Person of the Year.

She has 48 career Top 10 country albums, a record for any artist, and 110 career-charted singles over the past 50+ years. On October 17th she is releasing her second coffee table book in a trilogy called “Behind The Seams: My Life in Rhinestones” and on November 17th her highly anticipated 30-song rock album, “Rockstar.”

To date, Parton has donated over 213 million books to children around the world with her Imagination Library. Her children's book, Coat of Many Colors, was dedicated to the Library of Congress to honor the Imagination Library's 100 millionth book donation. 

TW: @DollyParton

IG: @dollyparton

Brilliant life coach, Martha Beck, works her magic for our Pod Squad.

In this treasure trove of profound insight and practical guidance, Martha teaches us how to find purpose in midlife, how to use our longing as a map, and how to know for sure if what we have is real love. 

If you’d like to go back and listen to the episodes mentioned in today’s conversation, check out episodes: 

252. Martha Beck Helps Amanda Let Go

238. How to De-Stress: Relaxation Intervention for Amanda (and You)!

121. Martha Beck & Rowan Mangan: Polyamory & Throuple Life

67. How to Get More Joy with Martha Beck

66. How to Come Home to Yourself with Martha Beck

About Martha:

Dr. Martha Beck is a bestselling author, life coach, and speaker – offering powerful, practical, and entertaining teachings that help people improve every aspect of their lives. She is known for her unique combination of science, humor, and spirituality.

For over two decades she has been, in the words of NPR and USA Today, “the best-known life coach in America.” Her published works include several self-help books and memoirs, including New York Times and international bestsellers Finding Your Own North Star, The Joy Diet, and Expecting Adam.

Martha’s most recent book, The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self, was an instant New York Times Best Seller.

TW: @TheMarthaBeck

IG: @themarthabeck

In this incredibly raw episode, Martha Beck coaches Amanda through a transformative, therapeutic session to help heal her overfunctioning, resentment, and burnout. Martha uncovers the different parts of Amanda that have existed inside her since childhood – and invites them to speak and then finally rest into peace, joy, and enoughness.  

If you’d like to go back and listen to episodes referenced in today’s conversation, check out: 

238. How to De-Stress: Relaxation Intervention for Amanda (and You)!.

170. The Most Radical Way to Heal: Internal Family Systems with Dr. Becky Kennedy

67. How to Get More Joy with Martha Beck

66. How to Come Home to Yourself with Martha Beck

About Martha:

Dr. Martha Beck is a bestselling author, life coach, and speaker – offering powerful, practical, and entertaining teachings that help people improve every aspect of their lives. She is known for her unique combination of science, humor, and spirituality.

For over two decades she has been, in the words of NPR and USA Today, “the best-known life coach in America.” Her published works include several self-help books and memoirs, including New York Times and international bestsellers Finding Your Own North Star, and Expecting Adam.

Martha’s most recent book, The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self, was an instant New York Times Best Seller.

TW: @TheMarthaBeck

IG: @themarthabeck

Singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Allison Russell, shares her incredible life story and teaches us how she healed from abuse through music, sisterhood, and returning to her body. This hour is a soul-stirring reminder of the life-saving, cycle-breaking power of truth telling, art, and love. 

About Allison:

Allison Russell has spent her career in multiple bands, including Po’ Girl, Our Native Daughters and Birds of Chicago. After a career spent as a gifted multi-instrumentalist, backing numerous other artists, she finally dared to release her solo project in 2021. She made her Opry debut and appeared at the Country Music Hall of Fame and performed at the 2022 GRAMMY’s Premiere Ceremony.

In addition to her four GRAMMY nominations, she has earned three 2022 Americana Award nominations and a win for Album of the Year, two International Folk Music Award wins, a 2022 Juno nomination for ‘Songwriter of the Year,’ and her first-ever Juno Award win for Contemporary Roots Album of the Year. Russell received two 2021 Americana Awards nominations, won three Canadian Folk Music Awards, two UK Americana Music Awards, and more. She was recently nominated for Song of the Year and Artist of the Year for the 2023 Americana Awards. 

TW: @outsidechild13

IG: @allisonrussellmusic

Today, Angela Chen teaches us how understanding asexuality helps us understand ourselves and the true meaning of sex. Angela describes: 

• The misconception that blocks us from fully understanding our own sexuality;
• Why your sexuality is a relationship between YOU and YOU; 
• How there are MANY reasons people have sex. (Glennon says sexual attraction only accounts for 5% of her sexual experiences.); and
• The shame underlying compulsory sexuality – and how to stop apologizing for not wanting sex. 

And a question for anyone seeing themselves in asexuality: What would this label free you from?

About Angela:

Angela Chen is a journalist and editor. She is the author of Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex, which was named one of the best books of 2020 by NPR, Electric Literature, and Them. Her reporting and essays have also appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Guardian, National Geographic, Paris Review, and more. 

TW: @chengela

IG: @angelaetcetera

Who do we go to for advice? And do we really even WANT advice — or just a good listener?

Glennon, Abby, and Amanda tell us who they each go to when they don’t know what to do next — and offer their best advice to Pod Squaders dealing with loneliness and the unexpected jealousy of their partner's affection for a pet.

Amanda shares the one proven way to get the truth from someone – plus:

• Why Glennon calls her lying style “The Puppeteer” – and why you’ll never know what Amanda’s really feeling. 
• Amanda defends our right to lie, and debunks myths about how we can tell if someone is lying. 
• What’s the difference between lying and controlling, manipulating, and filtering the truth?
• Glennon’s fear of judgment from the next generation, and 
• How to foster real connection in a world where lying is normal.   

For the first part of our conversation, check out 242. We’re All Liars: What’s Your Lying Style?.

Kerry Washington shares the deeply personal story of what happened when her parents finally told her the truth about a long-held and shocking family secret:

• How uncovering the truth – as painful as it was – led Kerry to reclaim her self trust; 
• How the revelation made her the lead character of her own life for the first time;
• Walking the line between protection and deception;
• Breaking the cycle of gaslighting within families; and 
• How defying her father freed both of them.

About Kerry: 

Kerry Washington is an Emmy-winning, SAG, and Golden Globe-nominated actor, director, producer, and activist. Washington received widespread recognition for her role as Olivia Pope in the hit drama Scandal. In 2016, Washington launched her production company Simpson Street, whose projects include Confirmation, “American Son”, Emmy award-winning, “Live in Front of a Studio Audience”, The Fight, and Little Fires Everywhere. Washington is a lifelong activist and founder of Influence Change (IC21), an initiative that partners with nonprofits to increase voter turnout. For her efforts, Washington has been honored as one of TIME Magazine’s 2022 Women of The Year.

Washington released her first memoir, Thicker Than Water, which is on sale now!

TW: @kerrywashington

IG: @kerrywashington

Calling all Caregivers! 

Today is a tribute to the everyday efforts of all caregivers who are holding up the sky for everyone else. 

Ai-jen Poo is here shining a light on why caregivers are exhausted, unsupported, and overwhelmed – all while doing the work that makes everything else possible. 

We talk about how to give the people we love the care they deserve without neglecting our own needs, and what can be done to right the systemic failures that leave caregivers fending for themselves. Plus, we hear a heartfelt message from a Pod Squader who represents so many of us in the sandwich (or “panini”) generation.  

About Ai-jen: 

Ai-jen Poo is an award-winning organizer, author, and a leading voice in the women’s movement. She is the President of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Executive Director of Caring Across Generations, Senior Advisor to Care in Action, Co-Founder of SuperMajority, and a Trustee of the Ford Foundation.

Ai-jen is a nationally recognized expert on caregiving, the future of work, and what’s at stake for women of color. She is the author of the celebrated book, The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America. 

TW: @aijenpoo

IG: @aijenp

Andrea Gibson returns with their partner, Megan Falley, for a gorgeous, hilarious double date with Glennon and Abby:

• An Andrea health update and what each has learned since Andrea’s cancer diagnosis;
• How their chemistry ignited with Andrea’s questionable move on a sweaty dance floor – and the text moment Andrea knew Megan was the one;
• How each of their relationships with their bodies has been transformed by Andrea’s illness;
• Navigating a relationship where one partner worries constantly and the other doesn’t know how to worry; and 
• Why love looks like peeing your pants, and how they keep putting themselves in the way of miracles.

For our previous conversation with Andrea Gibson, check out: Ep 215 The Bravest Conversation We’ve Had: Andrea Gibson.

About Andrea: 

Andrea Gibson is one of the most celebrated and influential spoken word artists of our time. Best known for their live performances, Andrea has changed the landscape of what it means to attend a “poetry show”. Andrea’s poems center around LGBTQ issues, spirituality, feminism, mental health, and the dismantling of oppressive social systems. Andrea is the author of seven books, most recently “You Better Be Lightning”. 

TW: @andreagibson

IG: @andreagibson

About Megan: 

Megan Falley is a queer femme writer and a full-time touring spoken word poet, author, and teaching artist. Her works include “Drive Here and Devastate Me”; “How Poetry Can Change Your Heart”; and the chapbook “Bad Girls, Honey: Poems About Lana Del Rey.” In addition to other accolades, Falley’s essays have been shortlisted for The Disquiet International Prize in 2021 and the Malahat Review Open Season Awards in 2022.

TW: @megan_falley

IG: @meganfalley

Where do you go to escape the pain of reality? Today, author Chloé Cooper Jones shares: 

• The survival strategy many of us use to retreat from our lives and how to become more present; 
• How she grapples with the world dehumanizing her disabled body; 
• Why desire and disgust are so connected – and what they teach us; and 
• The thing Chloé wants most – to be seen as inherently whole – and how to get it. 

About Chloé:

Chloé Cooper Jones is a professor, journalist, and the author of the memoir Easy Beauty, which was named a best book of 2022 by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, TIME Magazine, and was a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Memoir. She was also a Pulitzer Prize finalist in Feature Writing in 2020. She lives in Brooklyn, New York. 

TW: @CCooperJones

IG: @chloecooperjones

In the world of feelings, there are winners and losers, and somebody has to be the judge. World-renowned, self-proclaimed couples therapist Dr? Sheila invites you to sit in on her private sessions with clients. (For legal reasons, Dr? must be said in the form of a question.) Each week, a new couple…and a new puzzle to crack. You’ll get to hear, and benefit from, many of her famous techniques as she counsels patients on overcoming disagreements, dealing with an overstepping mother-in-law, navigating open relationships, and much more. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show, because the best way to feel better about yourself is to compare your problems to the problems of others. “Say More” features guests including Kate Berlant, Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Ilana Glazer, Abbi Jacobson, Maya Rudolph, Ike Barinholtz, Jessica St. Clair, Lennon Parham, Paula Pell, Janine Brito, Jason Mantzoukas, Peter Grosz, Jean Villepique, Stephnie Weir, John Lutz, Fred Armisen, Rachel Dratch, Chris Parnell and Ana Gasteyer, and stars Amy Poehler as Dr? Sheila. Say More with Dr? Sheila premieres Thursday, September 21, 2023. Listen to and follow Say More with Dr? Sheila, an Audacy production, on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.

• The moment Oprah finally knew who she really was;
• The hidden gift of criticism, and the image to remember when you’re envious;  
• Why “Slugging It Out” is a losing game;
• How to let go of outcomes – and make peace with what you have to offer; and 
• Oprah reads the letter Glennon wrote to her after her mother died – which she says changed her life.  

Read Oprah’s newest book BUILD THE LIFE YOU WANT.

TW: @Oprah

IG: @Oprah

Liar, liar – all of our pants are on fire. In this juicy conversation about lying:

• Why the question isn’t “DO you lie?” – but “HOW and WHY do you lie?”
• What constitutes a lie to you: defining what makes something a lie;
• Figuring out our own particular lie languages – and why Abby’s a Bullshitter; and
• Deciding if there is anyone you can be completely honest with – and how to create the algorithm of honesty.

Amanda, Glennon and Abby explore how to survive the lifelong, universal pain of being left out:

• What Abby felt when she heard “We don’t want you here” – and its long-lasting impact; 
• Why it is so painful, and how to process feelings of rejection and isolation;
• How dissociation helped Glennon cope with rejection in the cafeteria; 
• What parents should and *should not* do when helping kids navigate exclusion; and 
• The real difference between “fitting in” and “belonging.” 

Also check out Episode 179: How to Fix Our Loneliness with Dr. Marisa G. Franco

Dr. Hillary McBride is back to continue our thrilling conversation about PSYCHEDELICS — and how folks are using them to enhance their relationships and lives. She helps us understand: 

• The importance of seeing our partners – and letting ourselves be seen – without any defenses; 
• How combining therapy with psychedelics is helping people stay close to their feelings;  
• Why the first step toward healing is feeling safe in your body; and 
• An important question for us all: Why is being here so hard? 

For Part One of our conversation on Psychedelics, check our Ep 240 Are Psychedelics an Answer? with Dr. Hillary McBride. 

And for our Embodiment conversation with Dr. McBride, check out: Ep 206: How to Follow the Wisdom of Your Body with Dr. Hillary McBride.

About Dr. McBride: 

Dr. Hillary McBride is a Registered Psychologist, researcher, podcaster, author, and speaker, but she identifies most with being a mother. She has lived experience and clinical expertise in the areas of trauma, embodiment, eating disorders, and the intersection of spirituality and mental health. Her research has focused on women's relationships with their bodies across the lifespan, and her books include: Mothers, Daughters, and Body Image; Embodiment and Eating Disorders, and the bestseller The Wisdom of Your Body. Her next book – Practices for Embodied Living – will be released in 2024. Her podcast, Other People's Problems, was listed in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal as essential listening.

TW: @hillarylmcbride

IG: @hillaryliannamcbride

Why is everyone talking about psychedelics?!?! 

Today, Dr. Hillary McBride joins us to answer all of our questions about therapeutic psychedelics, and: 

• Her personal, step-by-step journey with therapeutic psychedelics; 
• The science behind how psychedelics help break old patterns and create new ones; 
• How she uncovered the root of her eating disorder; and 
• How psychedelics can reveal your innate goodness. 

For our Embodiment conversation with Dr. McBride, check out: Ep 206: How to Follow the Wisdom of Your Body with Dr. Hillary McBride.

About Dr. McBride: 

Dr. Hillary McBride is a Registered Psychologist, researcher, podcaster, author, and speaker, but she identifies most with being a mother. She has lived experience and clinical expertise in the areas of trauma, embodiment, eating disorders, and the intersection of spirituality and mental health. Her research has focused on women's relationships with their bodies across the lifespan, and her books include: Mothers, Daughters, and Body Image; Embodiment and Eating Disorders, and the bestseller The Wisdom of Your Body. Her next book – Practices for Embodied Living – will be released in 2024. Her podcast, Other People's Problems, was listed in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal as essential listening.

TW: @hillarylmcbride

IG: @hillaryliannamcbride

Are you capable of being satisfied? Today, adrienne maree brown helps us uncover: 

• How to find beauty and connection in the everyday;
• How to stop wasting your time on things that don’t feel good;
• Why the greatest risk of life is also where its preciousness comes from; 
• How, through the discipline of pleasure, we can ALL be satisfied. 

About adrienne:

adrienne maree brown is a pleasure activist, writer, and radical imaginist who grows healing ideas in public through writing, music, and podcasts. adrienne has nurtured Emergent Strategy, Pleasure Activism, Radical Imagination and Transformative Justice as ideas, frameworks, networks and practices for transformation. adrienne’s work is informed by 25 years of social and environmental justice facilitation primarily supporting Black liberation. adrienne is the author/editor of several published texts including Emergent Strategy: Shaping Change, Changing Worlds; Pleasure Activism: The Politics of Feeling Good; Grievers; and Maroons. After a multinational childhood, adrienne lived in New York, Oakland, and Detroit before landing in her current home of Durham, NC.

TW: @adriennemaree

IG: @adriennemareebrown

Abby and Glennon attempt a Relaxation Intervention, which Amanda sabotages – resulting in a riveting discussion of why we can’t (don’t) de-stress, and how relaxation can help us ALL feel a little more human:

• Why so many of us have lost our playful, silly, absurd selves – and how we might recover them; 
• The “Relaxation Homework” Abby assigned to Amanda; 
• How over-functioners can channel their superpower into being fully alive; 
• Why it’s not our job to ensure things won’t fall apart, but to accept that they absolutely will;  
• And the one “tracking” tool Amanda will use to find more moments of connection.

Glennon and Amanda share why they love this wildly popular conversation with Dr. Becky Kennedy and how it radically changed their approaches to parenting their kids (and reparenting themselves). 

Dr. Becky Kennedy guides us through Attachment Styles, how our past comes alive in our present – and how to free ourselves and raise freer kids.

1. Why attachment styles are at the heart of our most intense conflicts (in ourselves and with others).

2. How to rewire our original mental coding (75% of which is complete by age 3), so we can have more peace.

3. How our physical and emotional attractions in adulthood are dictated by childhood attachments.

4. Why it’s never too late to initiate relationship repair, and the warning signs that we’re starved for connection.

5. How we can help our kids trust their instincts, use parenting as a path to grow in the ways we’ve always wanted to grow, and build empathy for our own imperfect parents.

For our other conversations with Dr. Becky Kennedy, check out: 

130. Breaking Cycles and Reparenting Yourself with Dr. Becky Kennedy

131. How to Raise Untamed Kids with Dr. Becky Kennedy

170. The Most Radical Way to Heal: Internal Family Systems with Dr. Becky Kennedy

About Dr. Becky:

Dr. Becky Kennedy is a clinical psychologist, bestselling author, and mom of three, named

“The Millennial Parenting Whisperer” by TIME Magazine.Dr. Becky is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be and founder of the Good Inside Membership platform, a hub with Dr. Becky’s complete parenting content collection all in one place. Her podcast “Good Inside with Dr. Becky” – was one of Apple Podcasts “Best Shows of 2021.”

TW: @goodinside

IG: @drbeckyatgoodinside

Today, we celebrate the one-and-only Abby – and her rare gift of vulnerability and storytelling.

Our favorite person on the planet – Abby Wambach – is going deep, answering the questions that we all have, but that only Glennon and Amanda can ask.

Abby shares, in an intensely new and courageous way, about her lifelong pursuit of love – including her complicated relationships with her mom, soccer, her first marriage, queerness, and her “shadow self” – and why she has questioned her own lovability for so much of her life.

For the other Abby episodes in this series, check out: 

189. Abby for the 1st Time On Divorce & Her Unrequited Love

190. Abby’s Christmas Miracle: When All the Heartbreak Made Sense

About Abby:

Olympian, Activist, Author, and Co-host of the We Can Do Hard Things Podcast

Abby Wambach is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, FIFA World Cup Champion, and six-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award. She was the United States’ leading scorer in the 2007 and 2011 Women’s World Cup tournaments and the 2004 and 2012 Olympics. Abby is the host of ABBY’S PLACES on ESPN+, in which she showcases what makes her beloved sport of soccer a worldwide sensation. An activist for equality and inclusion, she is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller WOLFPACK as well as the adaptation of WOLFPACK for the next generation, an instant New York Times bestseller. She is a founder and part owner of Angel City FC, the first majority-female-owned soccer team in history, and is a member of the Board of Directors for the non-profit organization Together Rising. Abby lives in California with her wife and their three children.

TW: @abbywambach

IG: @abbywambach

Abby shares one of her all-time most impactful conversations – delving inside the “wonderful, dangerous” mind of Tracee Ellis Ross covers:

1. Tracee’s go-to strategies to stop questioning herself, to pick herself up when she feels unlovable, and to tether herself to her truest self.

2. How she made peace with the fact that she’s “not everyone’s cup of tea” – and stopped trying to change the things about her that others don’t like (but she does).

3. Inside Tracee’s 50th birthday party – the honor of being “Fifty and Free,” and what moved her to sing her mother’s song in her mother’s dress.

4. Tracee’s recent personal journal entry rejecting the lie that a woman’s purpose is to be “chosen” – and how she creates a beautiful, full life outside the roles of mother and partner.

5. Tracee’s incredible view of friendship: How to be brave enough to become a barnacle in your friends’ lives, and to find your Cauldron people

About Tracee:

Tracee Ellis Ross is an award-winning actress and producer best known for her roles in ABC’s award-winning comedy series BLACK-ISH and GIRLFRIENDS. For her role as “Rainbow Johnson” in BLACK-ISH, as a comedic leading actress, Ross won the Golden Globe Award in 2017 as well as nine NAACP Image Awards. She was nominated for five Emmys and two Critics Choice Awards.

Ross is the CEO and Founder of Pattern, a haircare brand for the curly, coily and tight textured masses.

Ross recently executive produced and narrates Hulu’s THE HAIR TALES, a docuseries about Black women, beauty and identity through the distinctive lens of Black hair.

Upcoming, Ross will be producing a ten-episode podcast “I Am America,” which aims to break through the noise during this divided time in our country in an effort to create space and to heal.

TW: @TraceeEllisRoss

IG: @traceeellisross

Glennon reflects on the episode that has been the biggest marker of change in her life in the last five years. 

Glennon shares from the messy middle about her new diagnosis and what’s next for her recovery.

If talk about eating disorders and mental illness helps: Listen today.

If it triggers: Skip today.

CW // eating disorders

If you have an eating disorder, you may find the National Alliance for Eating Disorders a helpful resource: https://www.allianceforeatingdisorders.com/.

For other recovery episodes in this series, check out:

172. How Glennon Knew She Needed Help: Recovery Update 

182. Glennon Update: Lessons from Therapy

194. Glennon Finds Her Healing Partner

199. Why Glennon Says We Should All Be In Recovery

200. Don’t Tell Glennon to Love Her Body

Join Glennon, Abby, and Amanda in celebrating, and closing out, the first season of the pod – and help them write the next chapter:

• What it felt like for Glennon to listen – for the first time – to her anorexia diagnosis episode; 
• How their parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary party showed Glennon how to stop performing and just BE; 
• The crucial distinction Amanda is exploring between tension and conflict; 
• Abby’s recent decision to explore her relationship with anger; and 
• How to join in shaping the future of the pod.   

For the other conversations mentioned in this episode, check out: 

165. Glennon’s Diagnosis & What’s Next

167. Tracee Ellis Ross: How to Make Peace in Your Own Head

168. Sonya Renee Taylor: What If You Loved Your Body?

216. How to Find DELIGHT Today (and Every Day) with Ross Gay

226. Enneagram: Why You Are the Way You Are with Suzanne Stabile

We all want tools to navigate (and minimize!) family drama. 

Today, Nedra Glover Tawwab teaches us how we can create drama free families: 

• How to speak up for yourself when it feels like going against the group; 
• Why confrontation is often the kindest thing; 
• When, exactly, we should bring up conflict & when to let it go;
• The most loving way a parent can respond to a child in pain. 

For more with Nedra Glover Tawwab, check out: Episode 124 How to Say No: Boundaries with Nedra Glover Tawwab.

About Nedra: 

Nedra Glover Tawwab is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Drama Free and Set Boundaries, Find Peace. A licensed therapist and sought-after relationship expert, she has practiced relationship therapy for more than fifteen years. Tawwab has appeared as an expert on Red Table Talk, The Breakfast Club, Good Morning America, and CBS Morning Show to name a few. Her work has been highlighted in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Vice. Tawwab runs a popular Instagram account where she shares practices, tools, and reflections for mental health and relationships. She lives in Charlotte, North Carolina, with her family.

TW: @NedraTawwab

IG: @nedratawwab

Today, Glennon, Abby, and Amanda dive into the Pod Squad’s words of wisdom:

• How to identify bad advice; 
• How to stop “walking on eggshells”; 
• When to not tell your kids you’re proud of them (and what to say instead); 
• The advice about masturbating that Glennon can live by.